Ride with me

Wow, has it already been a month since my last story?! Whoops... Well where do I start?

At the hostel I planned my trip going trough the blue mountains and then north. A friendly Aussie women there advised me the putty road; a long windy road with one cafe in the middle. Apparently the cafe also had a free campsite, so this was a perfect plan.

On the way to the blue mountains I made one pitstop where I had my first hammock night. The reason? No free campsites around and the best spot was a small park area where I the hammock would attract less attention. At this spot a met a really nice couple that were in the same situation; looking for a campsite where there is none. The night was kinda cold, but it was okay.

The next day I drove to the blue mountains and had a awesome day of driving beautiful roads with a lot of breaks at view points that were absolutely stunning! I also went to the famous "three sisters viewpoint" which was a stunning view, but completely ruined by commercialism and huge amounts of tourists. Luckily in the area were a few viewpoints where I could enjoy the peace and quiet of nature with all it's beauty.

After a lot of km's on one day I drove half of the putty road. Wow what a drive! I also had some company from some nice german guys. The night was kinda cold, but not to bad.

The next morning I heard a motorcycle arrive; time to socialise. It was an older guy with a nice motorcycle and a camping setup. He was going to a "rally" (apparently not the race, but a meeting for bikers) just near the border of Queensland, so about 800 km's. He was waiting for 2 friends before they would drive about 600 km that day and the rest the next day. I asked if I could join up, which was no problem at all.

Funny how things can go like that. It was a amazing ride, but tiring as well. I was happy once we arrived, especially because the last hour was in the dark and we were in a mountainy area, so it got really cold when the sun went down. After we went for some beers and slept in the cabin that we rented for only $12 a person!

So some more riding. These parts were pretty abandoned, so we had to plow our way through cows crossing the road a fews times and we weren't really gentle on the throttle, haha. We arrived at the spot, put op our camping gear, started a campfire and opened a beer.

The next days slowly more people arrived (we were literally the first) and I think I've never seen so much bikes in my life! It was a Moto guzzi Rally, but there were also enough other brands of bikes. So I spend 5 days drinking, camping and talking about motorcycles. On the saturday there where also some competitions you could join in just for fun. There was a slow race (who can drive the slowest), a throwing competition (no not with bikes, with a heavy part of the engine), egg tossing, sauces biting (this one was on the back of bikes) and a few others.

I got advised at the rally to take the Oxley Highway. It should be a really good ride, it was more to the south though, but oh well, who cares. I drove quiet a part back down and ended up at a free campsite near the Oxley. This was definitely my coldest night in a tent (so far...). At some point I just couldn't sleep anymore because my feet were freezing. At some point I checked the temperature on the bike; -6! And then you think of warm weather in Australia? Well not at night when you're not at the coast!

The Oxley was a bit disappointing because there was a lot of road work and apart from that I always seemed to get behind a snail camper that did't consider letting anyone pass, so not nearly as much leaning into the corners as I hoped. Coming to the coast I arrived in Port Macquery. Really beautiful city. I decided to stay for 2 nights instead of  one to enjoy the beach and the skatepark.

After that I went to Yamba, which was also a beautiful spot. Amazing coast, pretty town and not too touristy. I hang out with a really nice group of backpackers, doing some exploring during the day and drinking goon (cheap carton box wine) at night.

My highlight was definitely the "blue/green pools". These are deep natural pools with a jump of the rocks. The blue pool is about 4 meters high. The green is about 8-10 meters. Already looking at the green one I was not even gonna consider it. The blue one was already pretty high when you look from the top, but I did it and I was really happy I did. I liked it so much that I did it about 4-5 times! I also went down with my camera a few times, until the waterproof casing opened at some point... Luckily the camera did survive after drying for a few days, but the microphone is finished.

After doing the blue pools a few times one of the german guys in our group got hyped and said "let's do the green pool". I guess my adrenaline was high enough to be convinced, though I still wasn't sure about it. We walked quite a walk barefooted in between the plants and roots to get to the top. OH SHIT what did I do! I did't even dare to come close to the edge. We did rock paper scissors of who would go first. Ofcourse this was me.

I wanted it really badly! Or actually I didn't want to walk all that way barefooted back... But every time I went to the edge I couldn't pull through. My legs were shaking of fear and I went back and forth to the edge like 10 times, trying to become comfortable with the movement. I made the jump! Once I was in the air the fear was gone and when I came back up out of the water the thrill was amazing! I actually did it! I still can't believe it!

But yeah, next destination was Byron Bay, supposed to be a great place and one where a new friend of mine lived; a DJ I met at a festival. But my money was pretty much drained so that became a factor... I was looking for jobs, but I just couldn't find something that quickly and then I found a add for a farm where I could do work for food and accomodation.